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Posted 11:20 AM by Amy Maurer

Mark your calendars:
WHAT: "The Underwater Year in Review" Benefit
WHEN: Saturday, January 11, 2003 at 7:00pm
WHERE: Mass Bay Community College auditorium (Wellesley, MA)
ADMISSION: Free. (Donations will be gladly accepted.)

Join Jonathan Bird, Emmy Award-winning underwater cinematographer and photographer, for a thrilling evening of spectacular underwater sights from around the world. The evening events will include Jonathan's slide presentation called "The Underwater Year in Review" featuring photographs he has taken throughout the world in 2002 - humpback whales in the Dominican Republic, dolphins and sharks in the Bahamas, the caves of the Yucatan, the wolffish of Maine, the beautiful reefs of Fiji and whale sharks in the Galapagos!

Jonathan is President of Oceanic Research Group (ORG), a non-profit organization dedicated to ocean conservation. Among other things, they make educational films for use in the classroom, but many schools cannot afford to buy films on tape through the distributors. Since most schools now have high-speed Internet access, ORG is working on a program to make their 12 educational films available online for free. To help raise the $20,000 needed to accomplish this goal, ORG is hosting this benefit event.

There will be a raffle for some great gear and a silent auction for some artwork, as well as a few video surprises. And of course, there will be munchies, T-shirts, videos, books, posters and, if we're really lucky, the new DVD for ORG's television film "Endangered Mermaids".

Admission is free and open to anyone, so spread the word.

Visit http://www.oceanicresearch.org/benefit.htm for more details.

Posted 11:46 PM by Rob Falk

Not for kids, or those offended by vulgarity, but very funny - these are the last thoughts of a lobster. Don't ask me how I came across this. The Onion | Just Wait 'Til I Get These F***ing Rubber Bands Off

Posted 5:36 PM by Freddie

Did you see this? $17.5 million settles lawsuit over dive that went too deep Sun-Sentinel: News Local

This poor (now) paraplegic signed up to do a 70 foot reef dive, but ended up being lead by the boat's divemaster to 170 feet!

Now, I'll be the first to admit that the DM screwed up, and that there is no excuse for not having O2 on board, but...

1) What ever happened to the idea of planning the dive and diving the plan? Why didn't this guy look at his gauge and look at his buddy and say, "Let's Bail?"

2) Whatever happened to checking out a boat's safety preparation before leaving port? If you don't, take this as a lesson. "Do you have a radio?" and "Do you have O2 on board?" are a real good start, with a negative answer to either question being the end of my association with that outfit.

We've said it before, and now is a good time to say it again: Our chosen sport, SCUBA diving, although a relatively safe recreation, has the potential for a catastrophic outcome each and every time we leave dry land. Although we are unable to plan for every contingency or emergent situation which may arise, we have been trained as to how to best avoid the common pitfalls, and to work calmly and rationally with the less common ones. Take your responsibility to yourself and your loved ones seriously. Plan you dive, dive your plan. Dive with a buddy. Take care of yourself, your equipment and your buddy.

Posted 9:59 AM by Freddie

Air Bubbles is looking for a few good stories. The deadline for the November issue is the 18th of this month.. That leaves plenty of time for you to come up with something!